The only difference on Friday was that Shawn Bowles played and Warren Callis was scratched.

The Bluegars earned their lead through two periods, leading 22-10 in shots. The 3rd period was very much different. The Bisons led in shots 13-8. The winning goal came on a 5-minute powerplay caused when Tanner Olstad high-sticked Jordan DePape at 13:55. After the goal, the Bluegars took another penalty and wound up playing shorthanded for the final 6:05 of the game.

Byron Spriggs stopped 28 of 30 shots for the win, and Cam Lanigan stopped 20 of 23 in the loss.

Since Friday's game ended so late, I put the links for that one in here. That was a 6 period marathon, where Bedrock U outshot the T'irds 56-45. Matthew Greenfield got the win and Derek Dun took the loss.

In the Saturday game, UBC got off to a 2-1 lead after the 1st period but then could not get saves. Bedrock U scored 2 goals on 9 shots in the 2nd period to take the lead, and 2 more goals on 6 shots in the 3rd to win going away.

The Dinos will now play Alberta in the semi-finals, and the Manitoba-MRU winner will face Saskatchewan.

The 1st period saw the Bisons have the better chances but the shots were just 10-8 and the 1-1 score seemed about right. The Herd then took charge in the 2nd period and seemed well on their way. The shots edge was 15-7 in their favour. However, a late powerplay seemed to disrupt the team for some strange reason. The floodgates opened and it seemed Spriggs couldn't stop anything. In the end the shots were 31-25 in favour of the Bisons. Cam Lanigan got the win, and Byron Sprigss the loss.

The Bison roster remained unchanged from Saturday. On the MRU side, Tanner Olstad was allowed to play despite his 5-minute major and game misconduct.

Sask built a 3-0 lead and then hung on for the win in the series opener. The Bluegars outshot the Mutts 41-21 but Jordon Cooke was up to the task, picking up the win. Cam Lanigan took the loss. Game 2 goes Saturday at 7:00 CST.

Bedrock U led 1-0 after the 1st and then all hell broke out in the 2nd. The Monkeys scored three straight, then Bedrock U came back with 3 of their own. In the process, the Monkeys pulled Brendan Burke from their net after he stopped just 15 of 19 shots. Luke Siemens came on to stop all 14 shots he faced for the win. Matthew Greenfield went the distance for the Dinos, and stopped 39 of 44. Danny Gayle scored twice for Bedrock. Game 2 goes at 6:00 MST, 7:00 CST.

The semi-final round is funny in that both series ended in two games, and yet all 4 games were decided by just one goal. In this one, MRU held 1-0 and 2-1 leads but still entered the 3rd period down a goal. From that point on they bombarded Jordon Cooke in the Sask goal with 13 shots but could not score. In the 1st period the teams scored one goal each just 49 seconds apart and the 3 goals in the 2nd period were all scored in about 2 1/2 minutes. Jordon Cooke stopped 29 of 31 shots for the win and Cam Lanigan stopped 23 of 26 in the loss.

The teams exchanged goals all night, Monkeys scoring first and then Bedrock tieing it up. Stephane Legault scored the winner with just over a minute left to send the Monkeys to the final. Brendan Burke returned to the Monkeys' goal and stopped 31 of 33. Matthew Greenfield started for the Dinos and stopped 40 of 43 in a losing effort. This was the 15th straight SWEEP for the Monkeys over the Dinos going back to 1996.

So next weekend the Monkeys and Mutts will meet yet again for the conference title,and for the 2nd year in a row the series will be held at the Rutherdump in Saskatown.

The CW is off until Friday when the final series between Sask and Alberta will begin. More on that later. ITM, the all-stars were announced and Bisons Jordan DePape (2nd team) and Remi Laurencelle (rookie) received honours. Those acknowledged were:

These teams have played in the CW final in 14 of the last 20 years. It seemed the near-streak was in danger for a large segment of the season. But here we are. Sask won this year's series 3-1. Last year, the Monkeys won the season series 3-1 but Sask won the final. Over the last 5 years, Alberta holds a decisive 14-6 lead. Both sides are assured of a place in the nationals.

I was watching the Jets beat St. Louis to cling to life and missed seeing this game. Seems like it was a good one. The Monkeys never trailed and had leads of 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 before finally grabbing a 2-goal lead. Here's the scorers:

This was a convincing shutout win for the Banjo Boys. Jordon Cooke stopped 26 shots for the shutout. Brndan Burke started again for the Monkeys and made 40 saves. Jamien Yakubowski scored both goals. The deciding game goes Sunday at 7:00 CT.

Another year, another title for the Evil Monkeys. Despite the scoreline, the Mutts held the lead until late in the 2nd. A four-goal 3rd period put it away for the Monkeys. That can happen when playing a 3rd game in three days. When the wheels fall off it can be hard to come back. Here's who scored:

York beat Queen's 4-3 to take the Queen's Cup in a one-game showdown and claim the automatic 3rd seed, whilst Queen's was awarded the 4th seed. Why they continue to do this makes little sense, especially given the quarter-final results.

Officially, the Monkeys were seeded #1 and Acadia #8. P-shaw! In the final OHT35, Acadia was #3 and Alberta #4, making this the feature game of the opening round. Alberta (like always) held the edge in shots on goal. But Acadia won. The Apes opened the scoring and led 1-0 after the 1st, with a 13-9 lead in shots. In the 2nd period Acadia scored twice on 7 shots then coasted through the 3rd before sealing the deal with an empty-netter.

As the OUA runner-up, the Queens had to be seeded 4th. Weird, eh? As the AUS runner-up, UNB had to be seeded 5th or lower. So this was another "upset". However, under the OHT35, the Squirrels were 1st and the Queens were 9th. So this was no upset. The Windbags got the opening goal just over 2 minutes into the game. And that was the highlight of their season. By the end of the 2nd period the shots were 33-10 in favour of UNB and it was 5-1. Queen's then surrendered meekly in the 3rd, mounting a mere 5 shots.

Last year the Mutts played way too much OT and seemed to be trying that failed formula again. This time, though, the opening OT was barely a minute's worth. There were quite a number of poenalties in this one (40 minutes). Jordon Cooke got the shutout, with 24 saves. Mack Shields stopped 31 of 32, which makes for a tough loss. This was another oddly seeded game. As OUA champs, York had to be seeded in the top 3 (and were 3rd) and Sask, as CW runner-up, had to be 5th or lower (and were 6th). So this was another techinical "upset", the 3rd in the first three games. But the OHT35 rankings say that Sask is #2 and York is #14. The Mutts can't be happy about having to play in the morning again. But they will benefit by getting some extra rest for Saturday's semi-final round.

The Jeremies scored early and led throughout. They outshot the McGilligutties 35-22 and it seems coasted to a win. This was the only "non-upset" of the opening round. SFX was ranked 2nd (as AUS champion) and McGill 7th (as pre-assigned qualifier #3 from the OUA). But in the OHT35, SFX was #8 and McGill was #5. McGill's playoff loss to Queen's and X's wins over Acadia and UNB would, of course, change that. Anyhow, a repeat of last year's OT semi-final between Sask and X is now on the agenda. Starts at 2:00 CDT on Sportsnet360 according to my PVR.Links:• [USports Post-season/Links] • [USports U-Cup Schedule/Links]• [USports U-Cup Home]

The Squirrels had a reasonably comfortable win over a steady Cajun team. The shots were 30-20, and they had one goal per period. The good thing is that the morning game was at least between two Atlantic teams.

This was an old school whuppin'. I thought the Mutts were the better team in the 1st and only some momentum-draining calls stopped them from having a multi-goal lead. Then came 6 goals on 12 shots in a 2nd period that simply cannot be explained. I saw it and otherwise mightn't have fully fathomed what occurred. At some point the Jeremies just couldn't get up for the game any more. Only one Mutt (Logan McVeigh) scored twice. Jordon Cooke registered his 2nd consecutive shutout.

Nobody expected the Jeremies to win this morning game after playing the late game on Saturday, did they? The fact the shots were somewhat even (34-29) is a bit of a surprise. So The Cajuns at least salvage a bronze from this tournament.

The Mutts had a chance to stuff the Squirrels in the 1st period. They seemed to be able to skate and pass at will. However, the Squirrels were able to hit from behind which was able to clog up the mid-ice. Nevertheless, the Squirrels scored twice by simply charging the net. When playing a 3rd game in 3 days the ability to simply stand up to this is sometimes just not there. So, the 1st period shots were 11-8 for Sask, but the score was 2-1 for UNB.

Although the 2nd period was also 2-1 in favour of UNB, it was a vastly different period. The shots were 21-5 and the Mutts looked in need of some invigorating toilet water and some Alpo heavy duty.

I was set for an ugly 3rd period from Sask, a la SFX's 2nd period from Saturday. But an early PP goal made it 4-3 and the game was very much in doubt. However, there was no 2nd wind from the Mangy Ones and that was all she wrote.

Cam Braes scored 4 times for the Squirrels, and be darned if I know when somebody last scored that many in a championship game.

Bison goaltender Byron Spriggs dressed for the Charlotte Checkers (AHL) on March 9th in a game against the Manitoba Moose. Then when the Moose needed a goaltender to back-up down the home stretch, he signed an AHL ATO for the balance of the season. He also got the Bison Team MVP award for the season. Remi Laurencelle was also named the team rookie-of-the-year. Brett Stovin wrote up Bison Blog #7 as an end-of-the-year wrap up. He liked the strong second half rally. No shock there!Links:Spriggs: [March 9th] : [Moose ATO] : [MVP]Laurencelle: [Rookie-of-the-Year] : [MyToba Award Winners Story] Stovin: [Bison Blog #7]

NAIT had won the last two ACAC titles and had finished first. MacEwan was second and this is their first title since 2004. MacEwan is in the CWUAA in other sports. There are clearly a lot of good teams in Edmonton.

Victoria finished 4th in the 5-team league with a 9-14-1 record and then swept the Simon Fraser Clown in the semis before defeating TWU 2-games-to-1 in the final. TWU nosed out the 4-time defending champion Selkirk College Saints for 2nd place and then swept them in their semi-final. Both UVic and TWU are CWUAA members as well.

This is the time of the year when we usually get news of a program in trouble, and in fact last year St. Thomas and Keyano announced they were folding. However, the BCIHL is back to being a 6-team league with the addition of the Vancouver Island University Mariners to the fold for 2017-18. They have never before been in the league. One would hope that former BCIHL teams like Fraser Valley, Thompson Rivers, UNBC, and Okanagan College might also make their return.